the week's top stories here on r.t. airport tragedy passion your plane slams into a russian highway killing four after overshooting the runway with survivors now fighting for their lives. president obama's call for a ban on some firearms sparks a massive shopping spree in the u.s. with gun stores reporting record profits. with no end in sight to the syrian conflict the rebels desperate push for regime change and rejection of dialogue raises international fees that the worst is yet to come. also moscow hits washington with counter legislation after the u.s. slap sanctions on russian officials it accuses of human rights violations. and

egypt's rumors want their opponents and a lot of the country's top prosecutors probe opposition leaders for allegedly inciting an uprising just days after a low turnout referendum approves a controversial new constitution. and i welcome you watching r.t. live from moscow with me andrey farmer. four people have died and four others are in a critical condition after a passenger jet crash landed at a moscow airport the plane is said to have overshot the runway splintering into pieces and littering an outlying highway with deborah artie's medina question of a report from the new cover airport. investigation asms will in full swing

this this is the second and the biggest part of the plane that still remains very close to the highway and looks very terrifying but the other person the plane in particular the cabin at that through right on the highway after the crash and where four crew members died as well as the a black boxes how been cleared over at the night and now the investigation is a working with the data on the black boxes meanwhile there is also a video that captured the exact moment how these a job presenter a plane crashed into the highway and that video appeared on the internet over the night meanwhile there are three main questions why this tragedy happened now these versions are weather conditions pilot error and possible topical problems with the plane and particular there are reports that there might been something wrong with the plane's braking system that's why it couldn't stop while

being on the runway so the investigation is underway out of eight crew members of course evolved but old in critical condition the witnesses those drivers who were cops the crash in their own cars sad that you are right off for the crash the scene the look devastating and terrifying at. the cost injuries said that of the a so all of those survivors own board of the plane were all covered and blogs and were in critical condition and they were inserted critical condition that people who rushed to how the survivors didn't even know how to approach the would the taliban as they were afraid not to hurt them even more we can now listen to one of the witnesses and what you had to say. i saw one woman we covered in regard it was the start of trend and christina. she said that the plane overshot the runway but they weren't carrying any passengers and that there is

another surviving flight attendant there the rescue unit came very far but the ambulance couldn't get through because of the traffic so we're gave the injured flight attendant first aid to our best knowledge called her mother to tell her she was ok strapped her womanly blankets and clothing we could find and they even found a car to take her to hospital but there is also video that captured at the exact moment when one of the flight attendants was taking out of the pain now the woman wasn't conscious she was all covered in blood and she was visibly seriously injured meanwhile people who rushed to help this is a virus onboard of those planes did that one price of the plane were still on fire and there was a risk of a possible explosion this plane to pull up to four out to all four excuse me where is the passenger plane with the capacity to carry two hundred thousand ton passengers and that particular plane belonged to a russian low cost red wings. paramedic who is an airline pilot says it is still

too early to tell but pilot error by well have been the cause. just occasional old now. two different avenues of approach they're looking at a technical failure such as discussion a ready a rising amongst pilots about a possible failure with the weight on we all switches which are basically designed to let your guard know all once it's made from to joan so well the great consistency could be fully deployed or possibly into pilot error now this is still very early after the accident the actual cause of the accident but there was an m.p. aircraft or over of overruns the runway in weather that i have to say was not as severe as it was originally thought we just saw a little bit of a cross wind and some snow but nothing major then you have to wonder oh what happened was this were the pilots able to recover this and missed something or was those completely beyond your health. well there are more pictures and eyewitness

accounts from the scene on our website where you can also find out more about the plane itself that is it. dot com. it feels like gun business in the u.s. has never been better with people rushing to still with sharing firearms may soon become i think beaten friend to barack obama urged a ban on some with weapons following the connecticut primary school tragedy. and takes up the story. about two weeks ago actually on this particular wall here. they are as four rows down four rows across. with everything going on in politics right now with the possible ban and everything everyone is floating in. purchasing right away gun stores all across the u.s. are reporting record sales just two weeks after the tragic shooting at the elementary school in newtown americans are scrambling to buy the same type of

weapon that adam lanza used in the connecticut shooting plus high capacity magazines and a lot of them panic buying trigger it out of fear that the white house is out to ban the weapons but this time the words need to lead to action no a r fifteen for this customer all sold out at the store while prices on line have gone through the roof been going for a thousand and fifty eight hundred eight hundred dollars to twenty five hundred three thousand dollars even in some cases it's just the most amazing gun buying spree i've ever seen so many gun retailers now quite cynically refer to feed ministrations ben talk as the obama gun stimulus that's how good it's been for their business so how do you go from a president with a tough gun control agenda to someone gun dealers call the greatest gun salesman in america manufacturers of semi-automatic rifles report that their market has grown thirty percent over the last four years states like north carolina iowa you have

seen a one hundred percent increase in gun sales over the same period in the wake of the tragedy in newtown one of the country's biggest ammunition suppliers said they sold more than three years worth of magazines in just three days although president obama himself has so far failed to act on his pledge to ban assault weapons his words have certainly provoked action just not the type he may have wanted for someone they say is against firearms. job for this. review should be in order to sell even more weapons many dealers hype up the gun apocalypse scenario but the very end there are more the right moment. to start not only you start. but many of them don't actually see any drastic changes happening any time soon after all any significant gun control measures and up in the past ultimately clashed with the second amendment of the constitution and were

subsequently scrapped. until it was julia i'm going to check out. a borrowing court give some ground to the opposition it's slash the sentences for some of the jailed and this while campaigns push for even greater leniency later in the program we'll look at the history of the unrest in the monarchy. and america braces itself as it might plunge off the fiscal cliff is democrats and republicans haggle over taxes and an imminent tax rate default. egypt's top prosecutor is looking to outlaw the leaders of the opposition launching a probe into mohamed morsi three top opponents they are accused of inciting their followers to overthrow the islamist president earlier this week the country's new constitution was officially adopted after a two stage referendum perceive the support of over sixty percent of voters and with a low turnout and allegations of massive fraud opposition activists say the new charter

hastily drawn up by the muslim brotherhood effectively imposes surely a rule on the country neil clark a world affairs contributor for britain's guardian newspaper explained why he thinks morsi is going after the opposition i. think he wants to sort of deflect attention from the economy because the underlying problem the biggest we're facing is the economic crisis one of four egyptians are without jobs poverty is on the rise and the subsidies on fuel. which means that the prices of gas and electricity are going to rocket and so this is a kind of a sort of smokescreen and he was very keen to get the opposition tied up in these the legal challenges to it to sort of stop them from focusing on opposing him on the issues where he's very weak and i think also he'd be worried that you know a sizeable minority thirty six over thirty six percent of people voted against the constitution and about it seems to be that that he said is on the way. and i think that obviously you know i think we can see more progress in the new year. a change

of label gives one time terrorists new legitimacy in the west still to come canada follows the u.s. and takes an iranian militant group off its terror list despite reportedly being behind recent bomb attacks in toronto. adoptions of russian children by u.s. citizens will no longer be possible after president putin signed the bill containing the amendment into law the measure is a tit for tat response to america's sanctions against russian officials it sees its human rights violators artie's it in the collusion brings us more details on the diplomatic track. you have to understand that the law the so-called end to magnitsky law actually deals primarily a with imposing travel and financial strictures on the number of american officials and persons who have committed crimes against russian citizens and only only part of the law actually bans the adoption of russian children by american citizens it

has been in part inspired by the case of a russian toddler who was adopted by the american family in two thousand and nine and died in their custody several months later after his father left him in a locked in the car in the blistering heat for nine hours the russian lawmakers feel that the american law system does not provide adequate adequate protection for the russian kids and also does not punish those responsible for the deaths of russian kids for example do you think of your father adoptive father walked away with a fine but you have to remember that russia is going to boost the care and the situation with orphanages and foster homes in the country as well as improve further conditions of for orphans it is seen as a sort of retaliate a measure towards this so-called magnitsky act which was adopted in the united states just a couple of weeks ago. which entails a list of russian officials whom the united states believed to be involved in the case. and now the act itself. puts

a severe restrictions on the travel and freezes financial assets of the russian officials in question now the case of the game against. involved the russian lawyer who was arrested on tax evasion charges and died while they printed it for a limited confinement but again these two acts are seen as the latest developments in the diplomatic row which seems to not to get any better between russia and the united states despite the whole affair with the reset button well we spoke to a former director of american adoption congress who told us that u.s. authorities don't track the child's welfare once an adoption is approved. a lot of the cases have gotten very very light sentences for the caretakers whether forster or adoptive of russian children here in the united states but we certainly have no idea how many children are enduring abuses surviving abuses of all kinds the

children that died at the hands of their adoptive parents were tortured in some horrendous ways they were sexually abused they were burnt they were starved they were caged ever any conceivable kind of torture one human being could inflict on another was done to these children so these were the parents that were caught and prosecuted nineteen how many more out there is that there's absolutely no way of knowing the united states has no system of follow up on adoptions. nice sold to the highest bidder they look british i say british but they really what they seen coming out we discover the fate of business is.

what do you see when you look at the scroll perhaps you wonder what bright future she'll have or maybe feel sympathy for her because you see she's in a wheelchair but if you're t.s.a. agent then you see hard core terrorists skull finding a small amount of residue from explosives on the girl's hands she was detained for almost an hour and her tears for mercy did not move the inspectors to allow her mother to be with her as they took her away for further inspection said to the t.s.a. agents can put two and two together and realize that people in wheelchairs get all sorts of random stuff on their hands because the wheels they push roll along the ground when will these endless tales of bizarre instance of the t.s.a. stop when will they stop worrying about girls in wheelchairs when will they stop searching under a terminally ill woman's bandages and when will they actually catch a terrorist when you call security feels a lot more like ridiculous tyranny to me but that's just my opinion.

wealthy british style sun. time. markets why not counting the. find out what's really happening to the global economy with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune into cons a report on. something. law

is beneath. thousands of meters of choice and draw. the law. that is aloof from many. but dangerous even to those who keep it to a distance. if the. troops. in the. streets.

welcome back dozens of jailed activists in bahrain who took part in anti-government protests have had their sentences for changed the opposition though wasn't satisfied with the revealing repainting its demands for the immediate release of all political prisoners. spoke to some of the activists as he looked at what lies behind the unrest. when it came to supporting calls for democracy in middle eastern or north african states while denouncing government sponsored violence leaders of the west were vocally critical from our graphic has lost legitimacy to lead and he must leave out a very clear message for president which is it is time for him to go but when scenes of violent clashes between riot police and reform complain risk came from

bahrain the definition of democracy shifted and rhetoric softened. in the summer of the us state department came up with a statement expressing its concerns over the human rights situation and alleged torture in bahrain this was only several months after washington had restarted weapons sales to this gulf state dissenters in bahrain have been directing anger at their government for months with no stop arming the killers is a message they are more often send to the west some of the in bahrain blood is worthless and the libyan blood is more important it's just critical a stand so he had youssif often travels to europe to direct attention to what he believes to be brutal repression in his country and he and others like him have managed to alert human rights organizations but that's as far as it goes they go. clinton made a statement about bahrain about the. situation in bahrain and this. one

protester was killed you know and show you that there is no impact on the ground we are a victim and behind because we live in a country they condemn the violence committed by the bahraini government against the peaceful protests that and beheading but that is still continuing for decades bahrain has been one of washington's closest allies in the gulf its naval base houses the u.s. fifth fleet and six thousand troops in a seemingly irreversible decision made decades ago despite the growing anti-american mood among some of bahrain's neighbors. anything happens in the bush era plan or any of the other plans. there are allegations of a nuclear weapon being built we are very close to all of those sites and we have to make the right decision in preventing any kind of catastrophe coming here we are or are not capable of doing that and that's why we turn to our friends and allies and officials firmly deny that washington plays a decisive role in preventing any revolution happening in bahrain even the bahraini

government's information minister suggests the us main fact be playing a double game. i think the iranian opposition is a key ally of the us leader of the opposition and the terrorist members of the opposition have close ties with foreign embassies in bahrain we can leak some of the old many documents proving it if this is true then washington sitting comfortably we can quickly switch sides but for now the opposition in bahrain is left to wonder as to why goals to support democracy from some are less worthy of attention than others. r.t. reporting from the kingdom of bahrain. moscow says that the refusal of serious k. opposition coalition to enter into dialogue with the government is a road to nowhere and will only result in further bloodshed at a meeting with international peace envoy to syria lakhdar brahimi foreign minister sergei lavrov reiterated that dialogue is the only means to resolve the conflict he

has also stated on numerous occasions that although russia condemns methods the syrian army is using in the war it will take no part in regime change and here's his response to the leader of syria's key rebel group who demanded moscow apologizes for what he described to support the president assad. if an emotional response i understand that mr had tb is probably not very experienced in politics if he's looking to be a serious politician it is in his interest to hear our position from us and not from the media that sometimes distorts information so i'll repeat we're ready to talk to or opposition forces but we start from the premise that they should not only think about the rhone ambitions but also the fate of the syrian people and if they think that russia could play a role in the country's tragedy they should meet our representatives with though preconditions official notice but we also managed to speak exclusively with the

foreign minister more official thoughts and assessment of the syrian crisis is coming up later this hour. with just days to go until america plunges off the fiscal cliff there is still no deal in sight between the firmly entrenched republicans and democrats millions of americans stand to see stand to see their taxes go up dramatically in two days' time but the sticking point holding up negotiations of the rates for the rich the republicans have rejected any deal that would see those taxes rise while the democrats insist on the wealthy paying up a little more and best investment advisor patrick young says the u.s. is heading towards further recession if it can't occur that spending. i'm really worried going into twenty thirteen i mean ultimately the great thing is that humankind will survive we will all remain the same people but the problem we have is first of all america seems to be heading suicidally towards this thing the fiscal cliff and the possibility that it may enter another leg of recession or

possibly even depression as a result of legislators inability to curb their how bit of spending like footballers' wives and then on the other side of the atlantic we also have this problem the european union is getting to the point where it seems to think its soldiers problems solving your problems means that twenty five percent of the workforce of several countries are out of work if fifty plus percent of the youth of say somewhere like stay in or out of work that really frightens me when it is spend spend spend as people in the u.k. make the most of seasonal sales but as party boy they find that if they think their hard earned money is going towards britain's economic revival then they are very much stake and. proud to be british brits and terrorists alike often pay for their quintessentially british experience says on aware that they're run by foreign companies harrods the dorchester hotel and even the queen's grocer fortnum and mason keeping the fortnum and mason is

a british store. is it not is he owned by the japanese he's been here for ages so i assumed it was wholly owned by british people no never mind everything's ok now you know the lazy nothings are prone to getting. almost half the companies in the u.k. and now in foreign hands the coalition government in britain wants to talk about the march of the makers have a march of the makers if we're selling of all that is good household names like boots the chemist cadbury's chocolate and weetabix cereal have all been gobbled up by foreign corporations your traditional bacon butty hardly imaginable without h.p. source the name stands for houses of parliament the label even has westminster on it but the white house might be more fitting h.p. now belongs to heinz and as you're spreading your hartley's jam or your son packed peanut butter over your morning toast you might be surprised to learn that these

british brands were just bought up by another american company in fact even thames water which comes out of every single tap in and around london now belongs to an australian company advocates of foreign takeovers say they inject much needed cash into the british economy recently with premier foods not only selling off. pickle selling off. some peanut butter and also closing down some of their home manufacturing and it's interesting what's the reaction analysts say great use for investors although is bleak news just before christmas. for the workforce two years ago craft the u.s. food giant swallowed up cadbury's chocolate it was a hostile takeover they slashed four hundred jobs and moved production to poland in the process but there are those that say that the loss of sweets is the least of

britain's problems the loss of control over ports to in this country and around the world where we have a huge network of of good international pools i think is a very serious matter the loss of control over our airports the loss of control particularly over oil in the companies which means decisions about our energy could control and supply and that made in london there maybe in paris and in other nations governments scrutinize every overseas bid france for example argues that it's in their national interest to prevent key technologies falling into foreign hands so while it's often difficult for a british company to buy abroad over thirty billion pounds worth of domestic companies made their way into foreign hands last year last month westminster said that it wouldn't change any laws but would take a greater interest in foreign acquisitions the only thing is by the time they get around to it there might be nothing left to sell. art see london.

and stan out of millions of dollars of income couple accuses some nights i link companies of tax evasions but this time timid experts of the country would never have seen the money anyway find out why in a few minutes. or so you the shows a year r.t. looks back at the milestone launch of an exclusive program hosted by the world's most wanted whistleblower a song which. is the legacy no one should be proud sheaf of scrap metal littering pristine arctic landscape building stilton over their foundation pipes spewing black smoke over the snow covered peaks the traces of the soviet industrial activity on the spitzbergen archipelago don't make a pretty picture if the guiding principle here is the worse the better locals like to tell the story that back in soviet times when norwegians were visiting barons

were they also an express lanes would be and how prosperous this was well times have obviously changed by this so it lags say it's still attracting the region tourists or barons work and without commerce much needed cash that's why when business bad there ruining our goal is common as was uncovered here a few days ago instead of throwing it away the local administration decided to paint the bin you and put it at barron's work central square that in the nine hundred eighty s. there was a burgeoning mining community the soviet union was determined to maintain its own costs. are located halfway between north america and western europe in archipelago is part of norway with a special status that allows other countries to set up industrial bases here in the middle of the cold war it served as the use of czars westernmost outpost now it's one of the soviet union's last.